Imagine a place where your drawings can fly swim off the page and move around in a fantastic life-like scenario. Imagine your creations being displayed in real time for everyone to see. This is just what Workinman Interactive created, in collaboration with the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY.

The Strong National Museum of Play opened Wild Kratts: Ocean Adventure! on June 8th, giving museum attendants the ability to draw and color their very own unique fish, plop it into a specially designed scanner, and watch it come to life on a large projected aquarium wall for everyone to see. “We wanted something that would both increase the footprint of the exhibit and captivate guests,” said The Strong’s Vice President for Exhibits, Jon-Paul Dyson. The solution? A digital aquarium that gives museum guests the ability to color their very own unique fish and scan them onto a large projected aquarium wall for everyone to see.

The technology behind it is pretty impressive also. Each fish drawing sheet utilizes a special visual code on two opposite corners. Workinman’s software can capture and identify the fish shape and the drawing’s orientation based on those codes. The drawing is then mapped on an animated mesh which is added to a lush underwater scene.

Our experienced design and development teams have previously created connected toys for Little Tikes and Fisher-Price, as well as interactive exhibits and installations for Universal Studios and various trade shows.  “Workinman has been doing a lot of Visual Computing and work lately and we were getting feedback from our museum and themed entertainment designer partners that importing children’s drawings into an environment is super engaging,” said Aaron Hinklin, VP of Product Innovation and Business Development.

“The whole project came together in a little over a month’s time,” continued Dr. Dyson, “Workinman worked within our short timeline, met our budget, and communicated and collaborated well throughout the entire process.”

Need some creative genius for your next trade show or exhibit? Workinman has created over 1,000 games and apps for Nickelodeon, Disney, Sesame Street, Universal Studios, Mattel, MGAE and other premiere children’s brands. In the grown-up space, the tech behind some awesome industry booth magic (such as Pepsi, Northrop Grumman, and Carestream) was created in the Workinman Labs.

Give us a shout today to start bringing your next exhibit, fish or non-fish related, to life!